Alan Hall Shortlisted to be Labour’s Mayor of Lewisham candidate

Councillor Alan Hall has received the news that he has been shortlisted to be Labour’s candidate for Mayor of Lewisham. He said:

“I am delighted that the Labour Party has decided that I have the qualities to be a candidate for Mayor of Lewisham by shortlisting me.

I want to lead a Labour Council that works with residents, businesses, co-ops and trades unions to make far-reaching changes for a more co-operative, cohesive and ambitious community. A community where genuinely affordable housing and good education means that every single person has a better chance of building a good life for themselves and their family.

#HallTogetherNow #ChangeLewisham

My credentials.

My fellow Labour councillors have placed their trust in me every year over the past decade by voting for me as Lewisham Council’s Chair of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee – the strategic part of the Council that challenges and scrutinises each of the significant decisions the Mayor, Cabinet and Council takes.

As a board member of the Phoenix Community Housing Co-op, I was active in securing major community schemes including the restoration of the £4m lottery-funded Fellowship Inn project. I helped to save this historic building which was set to be sold off for flats. Next year it will re-open to serve its original purpose, when built in the 1920s, as a pub, theatre, cinema and community centre.

As the Executive Chair of Lewisham Labour Group, I forced the London Living Wage onto the Mayor and Cabinet’s agenda back in 2008 and, as a result, Lewisham became the first London Living Wage accredited council alongside Islington.

But, we cannot stop there. The campaign for a better Lewisham continues and as Mayor I will work with all businesses to ensure they pay staff the London Living Wage.

In my role as Chair of Scrutiny I persuaded my colleagues to change the Council’s constitution and make the Public Transport Liaison Committee a proper body of the council with all the relevant benefits and powers. As a result there has already been greater scrutiny and pressure on bus and train operators to address key issues such as poor services, working conditions and lack of investment.

Lewisham needs real change.

I am very proud of some of the things that we have achieved as a Labour borough which I have campaigned for shoulder-to-shoulder with my colleagues on the Council.

However, by the next election Lewisham will have had the same Mayor for 16 years and our citizens need and want fresh thinking. As Steve Bullock himself said when announcing that he was standing down: “After 16 years leading an organisation, it becomes hard to be the agent of change. Lewisham needs someone with a fresh approach, fresh ideas.”

For the past 10 years, the New Bermondsey/Surrey Canal Triangle site has been awaiting redevelopment but so far nothing has been built whilst the old Ladywell Swimming Baths is a huge site with the potential for many new homes, new shops and/or a new school. In July I successfully moved a motion, backed by my colleagues, to reject a tower block planning application in Lewisham that had no social housing whatsoever.Requirements for social and affordable housing are being reduced and lost and must be restored.

Together, let’s get things changed. #HallTogetherNow #ChangeLewisham

Councillor Alan Hall

A crowdfunding page to support Alan Hall’s campaign has been launched here